


in awe of something so flawed and free

by Rivendell101



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Carnival Row au, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Forbidden Love, Protective Sweet Pea (Riverdale), Romance, Short & Sweet, Soft Sweet Pea (Riverdale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 07:47:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20597219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivendell101/pseuds/Rivendell101
Summary: She bewitched him, seduced him with her golden eyes and intoxicating taste; and like a fool, he let her.Carnival Row AU





	in awe of something so flawed and free

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Southside Archive AU: Magic. I may be open to continuing this in the future.

Jubilee curls close against his side, draping herself across his chest as they both catch their breaths. A low hum pulls from her as their legs wind together, like sweet music, and Sweet Pea sighs as her lips press against his bare shoulder. She leaves butterfly kisses across his warm, bare skin, from his shoulder to a tender spot on his neck that forces a guttural sound from his throat. Jubilee’s lips curve into an impish smile he’s grown familiar with, though she tucks herself against him as if to hide it.

“Are you trying to seduce me again?” he mumbles as her teeth graze against the tattoo on his neck. The cool, late summer night air contrasts with the warmth of her breath and makes him shiver.

Jubilee grins again. “Would you like me to?” Teasing fingertips ghost down his side to his hip and the low groan she coaxes from him is wonderful and filthy. 

“Minx,” he calls her, and she nips at his neck, giggling when his big hands latch onto her hips, holding her steady against his chest.

When she finally settles once more, he allows his hands to wander, perusing her skin until every inch of her is engraved in his head and hands and heart. There’s a quiet hitch in her breathing when he drags one finger up the length of her spine. The delicate wings on her back flutter as he touches her, but Jubilee doesn’t stop his hands from wandering even as he gently traces the thin, silver-blue membrane, marveling at them. He’s always thought they were beautiful, ever since the first moment he saw her.

His company from The Burgue hadn’t been in Tirnanoc for long when they met. But they were half-starved and wounded when they reached the Faerie capital in Anoun. It was late winter then, the spring just beginning to melt away the frost that permeated the ground like a second skin. He was tired and cold and bitter from the war but the moment he stepped into the capital and saw her it was like he couldn’t breathe.

It wasn’t the first time he saw a Faerie, but there was something special about her. She was flying, hovering in the air, the sunlight cast around her softly, the pale, morning light causing her to shine. She was dressed in traditional Faerie clothes, the fabric of her long, gauzy dress sheer in places that made him blush. But it was her eyes that made his heart stutter, the sunlight turning them to gold that tore through his chest and gripped him, refusing to let go.

It wasn’t long before she had him drowning in her. On the holy night of summer, under the stars and moonlight, she conjured a pale fire in the darkness and made it dance across the tips of her fingers and he called it devil’s magic, in absolute awe of her.

“Magic,” she told him softly, “is just what men like you call things they haven’t discovered yet.” And then she kissed him so softly that she stole his breath and the sweet taste of her lingered on his lips for days.

She bewitched him, seduced him with her golden eyes and intoxicating taste; and like a fool, he let her.

Sweet Pea pulls her more tightly against his chest, relishing in the soft curves of her pressed up against him. His palm rests against her lower back, his thumb drawing nonsensical shapes across her skin, and Jubilee sighs as she tucks herself beneath his chin. The steady beat of his heart thrums loudly in her ear.

She begins to doze and his free hand strokes her hair. A thin braid brushes against his fingers and he toys with it. “What do they mean?” he asks her after a long moment of silence. “The braids.” He noticed them before, how every Faerie wears them, but he never thought to ask.

“The one you’re holding is for my family name.” She traces a circle on his side. “And the one beside it is for the year I was born, and the season.” She turns into him, kissing his chest. “The phase of the moon.”

“And what’s this one for?” he murmurs, gently tugging the end of one of the small, intricate braids nestled into her thick, black hair. There’s a pale ribbon wound through the braid, like threaded moonlight, and on the end is a tiny, silver bauble made from delicately spun glass. Sweet Pea rolls it between his thumb and finger and the bauble warms beneath his touch, pulsing with life much like the flutter of a little bird.

Jubilee shifts atop his chest, her long and loose hair tickling his bare skin as she sits up and straddles his hips. The low light from the moon spilling in through her window casts soft shadows across her naked form. Warm, amber eyes blink at him lazily and she sighs, nestling further into him. The tips of her fingers slide against his skin until her hand covers his much larger one. “That one,” she tells him, lacing her fingers through his, “is for when I give my heart away.”

And then she leans down and kisses him so softly that his chest squeezes.

“What are we going to do,” he murmurs when she pulls back gently. His stomach twists sickly and the sweet, honey taste of her turns bitter on his tongue. “When the war is over, what happens then?” They haven’t dared to talk about it before. There are taboos in The Burgue.

Jubilee’s fingers trace the curve of his jaw to his lips. “You could stay.” His breathing stutters and her fingers shake as she reaches for the braid he was playing with. The silver bauble glints in the light as she unweaves it from her hair, the ribbon tangling around her fingers. “Stay?” she asks him so softly his heart aches as she presses the bauble into his palm.

His fingers slide through hers, keeping the glass trapped between them as he guides her into another slow, passionate kiss. Jubilee shudders above him and it isn’t long until she’s sinking down onto him, his free hand helping her along as she rolls her hips against his. Sweet Pea never once releases her hand as they move together in the darkness, slower and softer than they have before.


End file.
